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  <section id="msvc-debug-information-format">
<span id="prop_tgt:MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT"></span><h1>MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT<a class="headerlink" href="#msvc-debug-information-format" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">Added in version 3.25.</span></p>
</div>
<p>Select debug information format when targeting the MSVC ABI.</p>
<p>The allowed values are:</p>
<dl class="simple">
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Embedded</span></code></dt><dd><p>Compile with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-Z7</span></code> or equivalent flag(s) to produce object files
with full symbolic debugging information.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ProgramDatabase</span></code></dt><dd><p>Compile with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-Zi</span></code> or equivalent flag(s) to produce a program
database that contains all the symbolic debugging information.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">EditAndContinue</span></code></dt><dd><p>Compile with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">-ZI</span></code> or equivalent flag(s) to produce a program
database that supports the Edit and Continue feature.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>The value is ignored on compilers not targeting the MSVC ABI, but an
unsupported value will be rejected as an error when using a compiler
targeting the MSVC ABI.</p>
<p>The value may also be the empty string (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&quot;&quot;</span></code>), in which case no debug
information format flag will be added explicitly by CMake.</p>
<p>Use <span class="target" id="index-0-manual:cmake-generator-expressions(7)"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../manual/cmake-generator-expressions.7.html#manual:cmake-generator-expressions(7)" title="cmake-generator-expressions(7)"><code class="xref cmake cmake-manual docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">generator</span> <span class="pre">expressions</span></code></a> to
support per-configuration specification.  For example, the code:</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">add_executable(</span><span class="nb">foo</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">foo.c</span><span class="nf">)</span>
<span class="nf">set_property(</span><span class="no">TARGET</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">foo</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">PROPERTY</span>
<span class="w">  </span><span class="no">MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s">&quot;$&lt;$&lt;CONFIG:Debug,RelWithDebInfo&gt;:ProgramDatabase&gt;&quot;</span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>selects for the target <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">foo</span></code> the program database debug information format
for the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Debug</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">RelWithDebInfo</span></code> configurations.</p>
<p>This property is initialized from the value of the
<span class="target" id="index-0-variable:CMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../variable/CMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT.html#variable:CMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT" title="CMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT"><code class="xref cmake cmake-variable docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CMAKE_MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT</span></code></a> variable, if it is set.
If this property is not set, CMake selects a debug information format using
the default value <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">$&lt;$&lt;CONFIG:Debug,RelWithDebInfo&gt;:ProgramDatabase&gt;</span></code>, if
supported by the compiler, and otherwise
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">$&lt;$&lt;CONFIG:Debug,RelWithDebInfo&gt;:Embedded&gt;</span></code>.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>This property has effect only when policy <span class="target" id="index-0-policy:CMP0141"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../policy/CMP0141.html#policy:CMP0141" title="CMP0141"><code class="xref cmake cmake-policy docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CMP0141</span></code></a> is set to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">NEW</span></code>
prior to the first <span class="target" id="index-0-command:project"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../command/project.html#command:project" title="project"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">project()</span></code></a> or <span class="target" id="index-0-command:enable_language"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../command/enable_language.html#command:enable_language" title="enable_language"><code class="xref cmake cmake-command docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">enable_language()</span></code></a> command
that enables a language using a compiler targeting the MSVC ABI.</p>
</div>
</section>


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